The U.S. government on Saturday congratulated South Africa on its “transparency” to the rest of the world following the discovery of the Omicron variant of the new coronavirus, while Pretoria protested as it felt “punished” and treated unfairly, with its citizens treated as personae non gratae.
During a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his South African counterpart, Naledi Pantor, the US Secretary of State “praised South African scientists for their” rapid identification ” .
He also praised “the South African government for its transparency in the disclosure of information” about this variant of SARS-CoV-2, which “should be an example to the world”.
Earlier on Saturday, the South African government ruled that travel bans imposed on its citizens by several countries were tantamount to “punishing South Africa for its advanced genome sequencing capabilities and ability to detect new ones quickly.” variations ”(24986399).
“Sometimes we are punished for being transparent and doing things fast,” said South African virologist Tulio de Oliveira, whose team discovered the new variant.
In stark contrast to South Africa, the United States has accused China of waiting too long to share critical information about the new coronavirus with the rest of the world; of the pandemic.
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